Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick joins him on front row
RELATED: Full race lineup | See the 43-car field for Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas—Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick admittedly are pushing each other around in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, a mindset that produced a 1-2 qualifying sweep Friday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway.
Busch knocked Harvick off P1 with under a minute remaining in Round 3 of time trials to claim his second Coors Light Pole Award of the season and first at TMS for Saturday night's 19th annual Duck Commander 500 (7:30 p.m. ET on FOX). Busch toured the high-banked, 1.5-mile TMS quad-oval in 27.857-seconds (193.847 mph) to post his third top-10 start in four races and the 18th pole of his career. Busch also qualified on-pole at the two-mile Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, with Harvick alongside in Row 1.
Harvick's best lap of 27.875-seconds at 193.722 mph was a miniscule 0.018-seconds behind his teammate.
"It feels good to post a lap at Texas and take home a pole award," said Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS. "Texas is fast. The way the new (knockout) qualifying format works, you have to do it three times. (Crew chief) Tony Gibson is amazing with his adjustments…and when you have everybody adding-in and not second-guessing you can get everything out of a race car. It's a good feeling to have a fast car at Texas."
Harvick, the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, settled for his career-best start at TMS. "I feel really good about where the car is," said Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS. "We spent all but one run in race trim (in two practices). I slipped in (Turns) 1 and 2 and got loose and got gun-shy in (Turns) 3 and 4. But I feel like we all get better every week and that's what we need to do."
Harvick, in fact, said Busch has been a major factor in the team's progress since returning from a NASCAR-mandated three-race suspension over alleged domestic abuse at the start of the season.
"It's good to have his feedback because Kurt is really good with the cars, really understands what he wants to do and what's going on," said Harvick, a two-time winner this season. "He understands the setup sheets and looks at the tires and pays attention to everything that's going on. When you have that type of feedback it just helps everybody push things along. And when you have common problems you can solve those problems…nit-pick those problems and fix those problems faster. This is my third year working with Kurt and I've enjoyed how much he is in-tune with the cars. We have the same focus and goal, and that’s to try to run fast and win races."
Busch said the entire SHR stable, including three-time NSCS champion/team co-owner Tony Stewart and Danica Patrick, is in a pushy mode.
"It's great to get a couple poles; he's (Harvick) got a couple wins," Busch said. "We've got our work cut out for us to keep up with his pace. But it's great to push each other and have the information go back and forth cleanly."
Brad Keselowski, the 2012 NSCS champion, qualified third at 193.195 mph in the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion fielded by Team Penske.
Birthday boy Kasey Kahne will start fourth after a lap at 192.933 mph in the No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS fielded by Hendrick Motorsports. Six-time NSCS champion Jimmie Johnson, Kahne’s HMS teammate, rounded-out the top five at 192.424 mph in the No. 48 Lowe's Pro Services Chevrolet SS. And Joey Logano, the reigning Daytona 500 champion and winner of last year's rain-delayed spring race here, qualified sixth at 192.369 mph in the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford fielded by Roger Penske.
Harvick, meanwhile, will attempt to break an 0-for-24 record at TMS during Saturday night's 334-lap/501-miler. He's coming off a second-place finish to Johnson in last November's AAA Texas 500 with blinders on.
"This is one we've circled we want to win," Harvick said. "The biggest thing is I want to win here so Eddie Gossage (TMS president) will leave me alone. You come to a track where you haven't won at—and we've been fortunate to knock a lot off the list in the last year or so—it's a race we've definitely circled to start the year."
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